Xinshun 1730

Chapter 1202 Wooden Cow and Horse ([-])

Obviously, in the eyes of the emperor, the crown prince gave an obviously wrong answer.

Of course it does not mean that this question is a trap. For example, the correct answer should be not to build railways. Of course it is not.

But this wrong answer just made the emperor mutter in his heart, lamenting that his son was still too young and naive.Childishness has nothing to do with age.

What is reflected behind this is the serious split between the practical school and the traditional school.

Ask about the railway, and the answers given are all from the new school, because the traditional school doesn't understand this stuff at all, and they haven't studied it before.But the brain circuit of the Real School is too weird compared to traditional thinking.

The essence of this division is that there are huge differences in the understanding of society.In other words, there are huge disagreements about what Dashun's world should be like and what the future will look like.

In the eyes of the emperor, there were very few people in the court who could truly combine tradition and new learning.

As for the few existing ones, it is basically impossible for the emperor to let them become princelings, and dare not.

The emperor didn't blame the prince, or he didn't disappoint the prince because of these words.

After all, the crown prince grew up in the palace, and the changes in Dashun these years are really too great.

When the prince was young, missionaries could still go in and out of the court as officials and teach some practical knowledge.

When they become adults, the most severe wave of banning religion is ushered in.

When the crown prince supervised the country for the first time, Dashun was still at war with Rakshasa in the north and Junggar in the northwest. At that time, he had to worry about the dangers in the northeast region, and how to prevent a country with a large plain, close to North Korea, and eastern Mongolia. A new wave of rebel forces has emerged in the potential area.

But now, Dashun's entire strategic center of gravity has shifted to the south, and the fleet has left Malacca to the west, and there is a great tendency to sail to the west again.

When the prince was established as the prince, the connection between the north and the south of Dashun still depended on the Grand Canal.The food in the capital also needs rice from the south to go north along the Grand Canal. The top priority of domestic expenditure every year is water transport and river engineering.

But now, the connection between the north and the south is by sea. In fact, the capital doesn't eat Jiangnan rice much anymore, and I don't even know where the rice and wheat are.Even in the capital, there has been an illusion that "rice and wheat are grown in grain stores and grain depots, and as long as you have money, you can have as much as you want."

When the prince read Romance of the Three Kingdoms when he was a child, he thought it was a myth when he read about wooden cows and horses.

But now, wooden cows and horses are no longer myths, and carts that people do not eat and horses do not chew have appeared.

All these changes have taken place within 30 to [-] years.

The emperor is experienced from beginning to end.There is also a reformer who is a "great loyal minister" who understands tradition and is proficient in practical learning.

Even so, it wasn't until Songsu Dayue a few years ago that the emperor really determined the course of what the Li family should do in Dashun in the future, and gradually shaped this set of things in his mind.

It is also impossible for the emperor to ask the prince to understand and understand all these changes directly, which is difficult for a strong man.

As Liu Yu said to the emperor, the person who carves a boat and seeks the sword is not stupid; the person who lands two iron balls at the same time is not stupid either.Because it is impossible for a stupid person to sum up the laws of landing, just follow the laws summed up in the past, which were useful in the past, but may not be right now.

The problem now is that, whether it is the traditional school or the practical school, most of them are seeking swords.

It is nothing more than the traditional school, which engraves the boats of the past; the real school, which engraves the boats of Songsu.

Those who engrave the past boat cannot understand business.

People who carve Songs and Su boats cannot understand the mainland.

The emperor was silent for a moment, then suddenly asked: "My son, what do you think is the most important reason for my family to abolish the canal and promote the sea?"

The prince secretly breathed a sigh of relief, although he didn't know whether the answer just now was right or wrong, but since his father asked this question, and his tone was obviously more affectionate, at least it was a good sign.

"My son thinks..."

Like repeating the old tune, he talked about the truth about sea or river transportation, which has been debated for hundreds of years.

It is nothing more than the suffering of the people along the coast, the fatigue of rice transportation, the heavy exploitation in the middle, the thieves carrying private goods, the officials who took the opportunity to make money, the river costing tens of millions, etc., and so on.

After hearing these answers, the emperor shook his head.

"You need to remember that in all dynasties, you must do things when you can. When you have to do things, you often can't do things. Therefore, don't be like Xing Guogong said, do not poke and jump When you poke it, you don’t even know if you can jump up.”

"The things you said are not in the category of being forced to poke and jump. It is like this now, it was like this in the past, and it will probably be like this in the future. Has anyone in the past dynasties lost their country because of the malpractice of water transportation?"

"In the last years of the Yuan Dynasty, there was a prophecy saying: Mo Daoshi's one eye provoked rebellion in the Yellow River."

"Have you ever thought about how to continue the river transport? What will happen once the Yellow River bursts?"

"The water transportation is cut off, and half of the imperial court's taxation is piled up in the south of the Yangtze River; the rice is insufficient, and the people around the capital are restless; the people are expropriated for water control, the canal is cut off, the food is insufficient, or they cannot pay wages; millions of people are trapped in the river, and there is no harvest. Prices are soaring, there must be riots."

"When the Yellow River breaches, it is a natural disaster."

"However, the natural disaster is the same, but the aftermath is different."

"If the imperial court has money, rice, and food, it can be used for relief, retribution, recruitment, suppression, and appeasement."

"If the imperial court has no money, no rice, and no food, there will be hungry people everywhere, people will be panicked, wars will be everywhere, and riots will be frequent."

"Abandoning the canal, in my house, minimizes the possibility of chaos after the Yellow River burst, and that is the first of all reasons."

"Corruption and embezzlement of the water transportation cannot destroy the Ancestral Temple. Mo Daoshi has one eye, so he really wants to destroy the Ancestral Temple."

"Taking history as a mirror, the peril of a country and a surname originated from the barbarians or the common people. However, now that the barbarians and the barbarians are tied up, they can only perish from the common people."

"Since ancient times, if Henan is not chaotic and Jingchu is not chaotic, there will be no more than separatist rule and bandits. If Henan and Jingchu are rebellious, the country will be in danger!"

"As my son said, going to Zhangjiakou and Rehe, developing industry and commerce, and reclaiming land in Mongolia are all the right ways, but it's not too late to do it today, tomorrow, or the day after tomorrow."

"From my point of view, this first road must lead to Henan and Jingchu."

"Ginggi, Hebei, Henan, Jingchu, Songsu, and Su are not in chaos, and the rest are at most nothing more than the trend of separatist regimes and bandits, and they cannot achieve major events."

"In the past, when Mencius met King Hui of Liang, what did King Hui of Liang say about the famine?"

The prince quickly said to him: "He Nei is fierce, so the people will be moved to the east of the river, and the millet will be moved to Hanoi. The same is true for the east of the river."

The emperor nodded, and said again: "I asked you to read "On Salt and Iron". What did Sang Hongyang say about this matter?"

"Returning to the father, the doctor said: The king is rich in the sky, and the city is banned. He is punctual, and he controls the people according to the severity. When the year is good, he will store up to prepare for exhaustion; when the year is evil, he will sell money and things; if there is a surplus. But the regulation is not enough. In the past, the water and soup were dry, and the people were short of food, and they might be able to get food and clothing. Yu used the gold from Lishan Mountain and the copper from Zhuangshan Mountain in the soup, and minted coins to redeem his people, and the world called benevolence. In the past, the wealth was not enough. , soldiers may not be paid, and Shandong was hit by disasters, Qi and Zhao were starved, and Lai Jun lost the animals and the accumulation of granaries. The soldiers gave, and the hungry people gave relief. Therefore, the things that are lost and the wealth of the treasury are not due to Jia Wanmin. And it is used exclusively as a military division, so it can relieve the poor and prepare for floods and droughts."

The prince's answer was also very neat. Since it was a book that the emperor specially asked him to read, he must read it carefully.

Moreover, many people thought at the time that the emperor supported Sang Hongyang's line, and the state's regulation and encouragement of business basically seemed to have such a meaning.

However, the "Salt and Iron Theory" given to him by the emperor, which the prince got, is very interesting.

The prince knew that the book was originally shown to Xing Guogong by his father, and Xing Guogong left a lot of captions and complaints on the book.

For example, I wrote an idiom at the beginning of the chapter, "Never ask for a sword without a boat".

Another example is the first question of Sang Hongyang in the opening chapter, that is, "the cost of the side is insufficient, so salt and iron are used, and the wine is questioned, and all are lost. The treasures in the treasury are empty inside, and there is no use for holding them outside, so that the people who are preparing for the fortresses and riding the city are starving and cold, how can they support them?" After that, I wrote a complaint.

It was not Dashun who complained, but the British East India Company.Said: The British East India Company did not encourage the invention of more effective mousetrap.The key is who can get the government-licensed rat-catching qualification.The same goes for the Dutch East India Company.

Said: The benefit of salt and iron lies in the benefit, not in salt and iron.Salt and iron have their shape and their quality.

The benefit of salt and iron is great profit, then salt and iron; the benefit of tea sugar is great benefit, then it is tea sugar.Those who carve boats and seek swords only see salt and iron, but not profit, which is really ridiculous.

The Raksha people are addicted to wine, so they take the profit from the wine; the British are addicted to sugar tea, so they take the profit from the sugar tea; Everyone loves it, so they take the benefits of gold and silver mines.

Basically, the book the prince read was full of complaints.

The emperor took the book back and did not publish it, but let the prince read it after reading it, which has deep meaning.

It's just that the emperor forgot one thing. He read thousands of books and traveled thousands of miles. The prince read a lot, but from the current answer, he didn't achieve the effect that the emperor wanted him to achieve.

However, it is not a problem to recite Sang Hongyang's original words.

In today's matter, the emperor didn't want to teach the prince specifically, the key to the benefit of salt and iron is whether it is salt or iron.

Instead, take another angle.

Seeing his answer, he said: "King Hui of Liang knows that Hanoi is fierce, so he will move his people to the east of the river and move his millet to Hanoi."

"I think everyone knows this truth. Meng Ke's words are not unreasonable, but they are only reasonable when the land grant system or the majority of official land is used. For example, in Japan, it may be reasonable. But in this dynasty, it is unreasonable. If the imperial court is exempted, then the gentry and landlords will be exempted from rent?"

"The imperial court must follow Liang Huiwang's method."

"Just, how far is it from Hanoi to Hedong?"

"Nanyang rice, Liaodong wheat, Kanto sorghum, Japanese rice, Korean rice, if there is a catastrophe, the money in my hands will never make the hungry in Henan rebel."

"It's just that there are mountains of piles in Tianjin, how can they get to Henan?"

"King Liang Hui knew that Hanoi was fierce, so he moved his people to Hedong and moved his millet to Hanoi. I also know. But he moved from Hanoi to Hedong, but from Jincheng to Linfen. In terms of distance, it may not be as close as Tianjin Wei. Beijing."

"Since King Liang Hui's method is correct, then we need to consider how to transport the grain accumulated in Tianjin Wei from Hanoi to Hedong in the event of a disaster in Henan; once there is a catastrophe, the people in Henan will move to Guandong and Fusang. , How can it be as simple as going from Hedong to Hanoi."

"Now the imperial court benefits from the profits of mulberry and sheep, and the profits from the foreign trade of silk, tea, porcelain, cotton cloth, spices and precious stones amount to tens of millions a year. The rice and noodles in Nanyang and Kanto are piled up like a mountain."

"As a king, you should know that no matter how much food is piled up in Tianjin, the victims in Henan will not be able to eat it. No matter how much land there is in Fusang, the victims in Sichuan and Chu will not be able to go there."

"What the Son of Heaven needs to solve is how to feed the food piled up in Tianjin into the stomachs of the disaster victims in Henan; how to let the refugees from all over the world reach the vast Fusang Southern Ocean."

"Only in this way can we sit firmly, and the society will last forever."

"The world is like chess. One cut of the Yellow River and one cut of the Yangtze River are two horizontals. There must be a vertical cut to divide the world into several pieces and separate each other, so that the whole game of chess in the world will not be messed up by one man."

"That's why, if the railway is prosperous, the emperor will build the first road, which will neither go north nor west. It must go straight to Henan, connect Jingchu, and cut the world vertically and horizontally."

"You need to know that if the Yellow River bursts, it will be flooded. At that time, the disaster will not only be caused by the breach of the Yellow River, but also in the Central Plains. If it is just ordinary weather, how can the Yellow River burst?"

"If I don't do things while I can still do them, I'm just afraid that, as Duke Xing Guo said, when I really have to be poked and have to jump, I find that I can't jump."

(End of this chapter)